The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published new guidance on writing job descriptions for specialty doctor and specialist grade posts. Published in September 2026, the document is intended to help NHS employers and clinical leaders create job descriptions that describe SAS roles clearly, support career development and distinguish appropriately between specialty doctor, specialist doctor and consultant posts.
From job title to defined scope of practice
A central message of the guidance is that a job description should explain what the role actually requires. Employers are encouraged to define workload, expected capability, autonomy, governance arrangements, job planning and development support rather than relying on labels such as “senior” or “consultant-like”. The guidance also emphasises that SAS job descriptions should not simply reproduce consultant job descriptions.
For specialty doctor posts, the RCP describes a career grade that can include doctors with a wide range of experience and development needs. Some specialty doctors may practise with significant autonomy, while others may need more structured support. The job description should therefore make supervision, development, SPA time and progression expectations explicit rather than assuming one uniform model.
Specialist grade requires explicit recognition of senior responsibility
The specialist doctor section places greater emphasis on defining the scope of autonomous practice. The guidance describes the specialist grade as a senior SAS role for experienced doctors who meet the grade criteria and who may undertake substantial autonomous clinical work within a defined scope. Depending on the service, some duties may overlap with work undertaken by consultants, but the post remains a specialist doctor appointment with its own contractual and governance framework.
The document advises employers to specify the clinical settings, patient groups, decision-making responsibilities, leadership or service-development contribution, educational roles, governance expectations and escalation arrangements relevant to the post. This is particularly important where a specialist doctor is already undertaking senior clinical work or where a new post is being designed around an established service need.
Job planning, SPA time and development
The guidance gives practical detail on job planning. It addresses programmed activities, direct clinical care, supporting professional activities, premium time, on-call duties, administration, external duties and additional NHS responsibilities. It also highlights the need to allocate time for audit, quality improvement, continuing professional development, appraisal, revalidation, teaching, governance and leadership where these are expected parts of the role.
Career progression and support are recurring themes. The document asks employers to describe mentoring, supervision or support arrangements, workload, facilities and administrative support, rather than leaving these as generic assurances. It also recognises that the level of supervision should reflect competence, experience, agreed accountability and scope of practice; there is no single supervision model that applies to every SAS doctor.
A practical resource for employers and doctors
The intended audience extends beyond HR teams. The guidance is relevant to clinical directors, service leads, medical directors, responsible officers, SAS advocates and tutors, regional and specialty advisers, and doctors considering a specialty doctor or specialist grade appointment. It includes grade-specific checklists and sample job-plan material intended to make the standards usable when a post is designed or reviewed.
For SAS doctors, the document provides a useful benchmark when considering whether a proposed post accurately reflects its responsibilities, development opportunities and level of autonomy. For employers, it offers a structured way to make posts clearer and more attractive while aligning expectations with the relevant SAS grade.
How the guidance was developed
The publication states that it was produced by the RCP Advisory Appointments Committees team under the guidance of the RCP SAS lead, Dr Naeem Aziz, and reviewed by the RCP registrar and the director of medical workforce. The document is version 1.0, with a review date of August 2027.